1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image mode selection for television receivers. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for selecting an image mode which can display a plurality of images on a plurality of divided portions of a display screen, respectively, whereby an optimum image among the displayed images can be selected by a user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a television receiver, as shown in FIG. 1, is provided with a tuner section 101 for selecting a desired channel signal from radio frequency (RF) broadcasting signals received through an antenna ANT and converting the selected channel signal to video and audio intermediate frequency (IF) signals, an audio IF section 102 for processing the audio IF signal provided from the tuner section 101 to provide an audio signal to a loudspeaker 103, a video IF section 104 for processing the video IF signal provided from the tuner section 101 to provide a video signal, a color picture tube (CPT) processing section 105 for processing the video signal provided from the video IF section 104 so that the video signal is suitable for being displayed on a color picture tube (CPT) 106, a remote controller 107 for selecting a desired function or channel, a remote controller receiving section 108 for receiving an output signal of the remote controller 107, and a microcomputer 109 for receiving an output signal of the remote controller receiving section 108 and controlling the overall operation of the television receiver, the microcomputer 109 discriminating an input of an image mode selection key through the remote controller 107 and providing image data corresponding to the selected image mode to the video IF section 104.
The image mode selecting operation performed by the conventional television receiver as constructed above will now be explained.
The tuner section 101 selects a channel broadcasting signal among the broadcasting signals received through the antenna ANT, and converts the selected channel broadcasting signal to video and audio IF signals. The audio IF section 102 processes the audio IF signal outputted from the tuner section 101 to provide an audio signal to the loudspeaker 103. The video IF section 104 processes the video IF signal outputted from the tuner section 101 to provide a video signal. This video signal is inputted to the CPT processing section 105 and is converted to a format suitable for display on the CPT 106.
At this time, if a user is not satisfied with the present display state of the image being displayed on the CPT 106 screen, and thus enters the image mode selection key in the remote controller 107 to select an optimum image mode, the microcomputer 109 receives the image mode selection key signal through the remote controller receiving section 108, and determines the present mode as an image selection mode.
If the image selection mode is determined as above, the microcomputer 109 outputs to the video IF section 104 a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) signal corresponding to the present image mode, so that the present image and an on-screen display (OSD) for identifying that the present mode is the image selection mode are displayed on the CPT 106 screen.
Thereafter, if the user enters the image mode selection key in the remote controller 107 again, the microcomputer 109 outputs a PWM signal corresponding to another image mode to the video IF section 104. As a result, every time when the image selection key is entered, the selected image mode is displayed on the CPT 106 screen in the order of "image 1.fwdarw.image 2.fwdarw.image 3.fwdarw. . . . image n". Accordingly, only one image is displayed on the CPT 106 screen in accordance with the input of the image selection key.
The user may select an optimum image among the images which are sequentially displayed on the CPT 106 screen in accordance with the input of the image selection key in the remote controller 107.
However, the conventional image mode selecting method for a television receiver has drawbacks in that since only one image is displayed on the screen by each input of the image selection key, the user may have difficulty in accurately comparing a plurality of images with one another, and thus the user's selection of the optimum image among them will become difficult. Especially, in the event that the image data is precisely changed for each image mode, it becomes more difficult for the user to recognize such an image change for each image mode.